LANCERS
CARD SET TYPICAL OF UNDER FUNDED TEAMThe Rochester Lancers 1980 card set, produced
in conjunction with Wendy's and Pepsi are fairly typical of
the under-financed North American Soccer League team, and areperhaps among the worst looking
cards ever produced.

Card
#

Player,
First

Player,
Last

1

Enzo

DiPede

2

Laszlo

Harsanyi

3

Craig

Reynolds

4

Dusan

Lukic

5

Ruben

Giacobetti

6

Renato

Cila

7

Mike

Stojanovic

9

Fred

Grgurev

11

Ibraim

Silva

12

Jim

Pollihan

13

Gene

Strenicer

14

Pablo

Centrone

15

Pat

Ercoli

16

Jim

McLoughlin

19

Dennis

Mepham

20

Branko

Segota

21

Val

Tuksa

22

Damir

Sutevski

24

Emanuel

Schwartz

26

Andy

Sobolewski

The photos are dark and grainy,
most of them are posed, and look like they were taken by a
photographer standing on a bench. Long, dark shadows are easily
visible behind the players.

Yet
the set, which contains 20 known cards is significant for several
reasons. First, it really highlights the disparity among
franchises in the NASL in the early eighties, and second it
depicts many of the great indoor players of the era.

While
the Lancers failed to make the NASL playoffs in 1980, going 12-20,
the core of the team also played indoors during the winter and
made up the bulk of the power house New York Arrows lineup that
won four straight Major Indoor Soccer League titles.

Among
the players in the set are Enzo DiPede, Renato Cila, Fred Grgurev,
Jim Pollihan (now an executive with the Harrisburg Heat, and the
first goal scorer in MISL history) and Branko Segota.